A Christmas Remembrance
by Tyrchon
Summary: Christmas has come to Konoha, but a last minute mission and a few recent events are preventing Naruto from enjoying the holiday. As things stand many wonder what the young jinchuuriki will do as he battles through his greatest foe, himself. Spoilers


_**Disclaimer**_: Naruto is the rightful property of its respected owners and creator; I merely play in the world they created and am thankful for it.

* * *

_**A Christmas Remembrance**_

* * *

Konohagakure was a bustling center of activity as all of its inhabitants, civilian and shinobi alike, scurried about the many stores that lined the village's streets. Carrying large bundles of food and gifts wrapped in brightly colored papers with shiny bows of ribbon as the moved quickly from place to place any one who was unfamiliar with what was going on would believe that some form of mass psychosis or possible genjutsu had gripped the Konoha. The truth was far simpler than such things as it was merely that the citizenry was preparing for what was considered to be one of their favorite festivals and holidays, Christmas. With it being the day before Christmas Eve the clamor of the village had risen to a peak as last minute details were being taken care of.

Standing at attention within the office of the Godaime Hokage was what remained of the 'Rookie Nine', Team Gai, and their teachers plus Yamato and Sai. The group was waiting patiently for Tsunade to appear as she had called them citing an emergency mission despite the plans that the group of ninja and kunoichi had to enjoy the holiday.

To one side of the office was what remained of Team 8. Hinata was patiently waiting while stealing glances at a certain loudmouthed blond whom she had being hoping would notice her feelings ever since they had been students at the Academy. Kiba was dozing lightly on a couch as Akamaru rested his head upon his master's leg as both were tired from being ordered about by Tsume and Hana when the two female Inuzuka had decided they needed help carrying all of the gifts and food that were required for the Inuzuka Clan celebration. Shino was…well Shino was being Shino as the bug user stood silently staring at nothing in particular. Missing from the group was their sensei Kurenai who had been medically barred from taking missions as her pregnancy was reaching its final months and she needed to avoid exerting herself for the time being.

On the opposite side of the office from Team 8 stood the members of Team Gai. Ten Ten was idly playing with a kunai as she had been hoping to enjoy some down time with the coming of the holiday until she had received the summons to report to Tsunade's office. Neji was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed as he ignored the antics of the two green spandex wearing members of his team. Both Gai and Lee were loudly conspiring about what they were going to do for the upcoming holiday, everything from singing carols about the village to having a snowman building contest.

Next to Team Gai sat Team 10 plus Kakashi. Having taken over the team since the loss of Asuma, the Copy-nin had found the team to have loss some of their morale considering the smoking Sarutobi had been a cornerstone to them. Standing with them in the office Kakashi hoped that the coming holiday would reinvigorate the team for the coming year as Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino all sat quietly on a couch against the wall.

Standing by the doors and in between Team 10 and Team 8 was the ever famous Team 7 or at least what remained of the original Team 7 considering two new members had been added. Yamato looked a bit haggard as he had taken Sai under his wing since the mission to the Heaven and Earth Bridge in order to try and help the young man learn what it meant to be something other than a tool of the 'Ne' organization. Sai was smiling contentedly as he stood next to his new mentor as he had just been taken about Konoha and introduced to some of the Christmas traditions he had never experienced before due to his growing up in the paramilitary organization. Needless to say some of his reactions and responses had driven the both Sakura and Naruto, who had accompanied Yamato and Sai, up the wall. Resting a comforting hand on her blond teammate's shoulder Sakura was hoping to get Naruto out of the melancholy he seemed to have slumped into with the coming of the holiday season. Naruto himself was staring out across the room to the windows overlooking Konoha. The whiskered blond was a bit saddened as the holiday was reminding him of having lost two of the few people he called family, the Sandaime three years ago and more recently the Gama-sennin, Jiraiya.

Naruto had been utterly devastated by the news of the loss of the man who had taken him on as an apprentice. Jiraiya had been a combination of grandfather, father, and nutty uncle to Naruto over the years and the whiskered boy was having a hard time dealing with the fact that he wouldn't see the man peeking in on the onsens or even just coming around to talk to him. There was a small bit of comfort to the boy that he had been able to retrieve the body from Amegakure for a proper burial in Konoha.

The demon vessel of the Kyuubi had snuck into the rain soaked village after being expressly forbidden by Tsunade to go off by himself. Ignoring her orders Naruto had beaten back the forms of the Akatsuki leader, Pein, to retrieve the body of his master deep in its watery grave. Honestly the boy had also hoped to kill Pein, but the man had disappeared after Naruto had destroyed half of the village by unleashing a full five tails of the Kyuubi's power, the anger and hate that the boy had felt had kept him focused enough to control the power even though it had brought him very close to losing himself completely to the Fox.

Grumbling silently to himself the young Uzumaki was peeved at being called to the Hokage's office for a last minute mission. The last time he had been here was when he had returned with Jiraiya's body to get a royal chewing out by the old woman. Though he knew that on certain levels she was happy to see him alive and that he had gotten Jiraiya back for a proper funeral, the young demon vessel still felt the sting of several things she had said.

As the doors to the office opened to admit the Godaime Hokage in followed closely by her assistant, Shizune, all of the gathered Konoha-nin came to some form of attention.

"I am sorry to have called you all here at such a late hour considering you all had plans for the holiday, but it could not be helped," Tsunade began as she took a seat behind her desk. "Konoha has received a last minute mission that borders into the middle, A-rank level due to its broad implications and the time limit placed upon it."

"An A-rank, huh?" commented Shikamaru as he lazily smoked on a cigarette, a habit he had developed since the death of his sensei. "That means quite the payday."

Looking the young Nara in the eye the Godaime corrected, "Normally it would, but this mission is being done without any worry of payment from the client."

Seeing that some of the gathered Konoha-nin were about to launch into a series of protests and questions Shizune interrupted.

"You will all still be paid from the Konoha disbursement office," the black haired medic said grabbing the attention of the group. "The client is having their costs subsidized by us due to the nature of the mission and the fact that it weighs heavily on the Christmas season."

"Yosh, it is incredibly youthful of Konoha to be so kind!" exclaimed Lee as he raised a fist into the air in support. "I will not back down from this mission and will complete it with the utmost diligence!"

Catching a thumbs-up from Gai, both of the green loving ninja began to trade large smiles that glinted in the light.

Ignoring the two Tsunade continued, "The mission is quite straightforward. A charity group that helps those less fortunate residing within the Country of Fire has encountered a difficulty with some rouge ninja attacking their holiday runners and are asking for any support we can offer…."

"Wait," interrupted Naruto catching everyone's attention. "The group you speak of gives food and clothing to the needy and around Christmas time gives toys to the children of these families and those residing in orphanages so they can enjoy the season as if everything was normal for them. I can't believe someone would be cruel enough to try and disrupt something based on so much good will. Who would do such a thing?"

Shutting her eyes to ward off the headache that came with knowing that some people existed in the world who were so cold and cruel, Tsunade answered, "We aren't exactly sure who is responsible but our best guess is it a mixed group of bandits and missing-nin left over from the dissolution of Otogakure."

The atmosphere of the room seemed to tense at the statement. It seemed that even though he was dead Orochimaru still had a way of ruining things for those who were the most in need.

"We will leave at once Tsunade-sama," Hatake Kakashi intoned as the rest of the group nodded in acceptance of the mission.

Taking the mission scroll holding the details for what needed to be done the group filed out behind Kakashi, preparing to find those responsible for preying upon the charity and misfortune of others and make them pay while helping to ensure the holiday was not disrupted further for those who most needed a bit of joy and cheer in their lives.

"Wait," the blond woman commanded as Naruto was preparing to be the last one out the door.

Giving a dismissive nod to Shizune the Godaime watched her assistant walk past the loud mouthed blond, leaving the two alone.

"I know you are still angry and sad about Jiraiya," Tsunade said in a soft voice as she looked at Naruto's back since he was staring out into the hallway that would take him from the office. "I can't tell you to forget all of that pain Naruto, but I must ask that you not allow it to affect your conduct on this mission. There is far too much at stake here and Jiraiya would have understood that…."

"Don't you think I know that?" interrupted the whiskered boy as he continued to face away. "I will do nothing to dishonor him, you, or Konoha."

Giving a short glance over his shoulder Naruto suddenly spoke in a very cold tone, "However, I will not let these people get away with what they are doing. Despite it being a holiday of peace and goodwill I can't forgive them for what they are doing."

"What are you going to do?" a concerned Tsunade asked quietly.

"I don't know exactly," the boy said as he turned his head back around in preparation of leaving. "All I can say is Kami better show some mercy to them because I won't."

With those final words the blond boy stepped out of the office and let the door close with a small click.

Staring at the door Tsunade felt worry grow within her as the boy she and Jiraiya loved and cared for seemed to have lost much of the upbeat innocence that was his nature.

* * *

The group of Konoha-nin had made a very quick journey to reach the client's headquarters which was little more than a large warehouse located outside of one of the larger cities within Fire Country. Upon arrival they had received further news that the group had suffered more losses as the bandits and missing-nins had moved closer to the city and had grown bold enough to even attack deliveries that had only gotten a few miles from the large village. With this news the ninja and kunoichi had deployed to not only hunt down the enemy, but to also assist with the deliveries. So far things had been running rather smoothly and Christmas Eve had come without the enemy showing in the face of the Konoha support. 

Team 8 was out trying to track down the bandits while Team 10 combined with Team 7 to provide escorts for the deliveries. Team Gai was guarding the warehouse in case the enemy decided to raid the place, but at the same time was waiting as a rapid response unit should any of the other teams require assistance.

Though Team 7 had left to guard deliveries Naruto had been ordered to stay behind at the warehouse. The reasons for this move had been twofold for Kakashi and Yamato, who had decided it and given the orders. First, with the use of his clones Naruto was a valuable resource to the charity as he could produce an endless supply of workers to help them pack gifts and food. The clones also would come in handy if Team Gai was lured away by a ruse and the bandits attacked under the cover of the diversion, with Naruto there the enemy would be held off until the nearest team could return. The second reason for the decision had to do with Naruto's mental state. Both jounin recognized that the blond was in a dangerous state and ready to lash out at anyone who pushed his ire. To their minds the two hoped that by leaving Naruto amidst the hopeful optimism of the charity workers the normally happy loudmouth would return and the brooding, cold ninja who had replaced him would disappear. Needless to say Naruto was unhappy with the decision, though he tried to hide it so as not to disrupt the work of the charity group he was assisting.

"You Konoha-nin are real life-savers," the packing floor supervisor said as he came to stand next to Naruto, who was mentally commanding the small clone army that had almost taken over the work on the floor. "These clones you made have made it so we will have everything packed and ready by the evening. If we can get rid of those bandits we will be able to get everything shipped out by the time Christmas Day dawns."

Giving a small grunt in confirmation Naruto was only half listening to the man, more intent on wishing the group of bandits and missing-nin would do something utterly foolish like trying to attack the warehouse.

"You know," the supervisor suddenly commented. "You look really familiar, have we met before?"

Seeing a few of his clones puffing out of existence Naruto created a few more to take their places before saying in an abnormally frank voice, "No, I don't think you and I have ever met before."

As the man tried to protest that he knew Naruto from somewhere the boy let out a sigh of relief when Team 7 and Team 10 came walking back into the warehouse. Thinking on the whole subject Naruto was quite happy that besides the Konoha teams arriving to help the Mail-delivery-nins had also dispatched a large force to help make the deliveries to the far more outlying areas. However, seeing the men in matching uniforms and goggles reminded the boy of all the times he had seen them while tagging along with Jiraiya when the man had to send a manuscript in to his editor or publisher.

"Did you see the look on those kids faces when we arrived at that orphanage with those bags of gifts," Sakura said loudly interrupting the melancholy thoughts of her blond teammate. "They were all so cute and happy that I wish we could have spent some more time with them."

"Hmm, I remember reading something about how it makes a person feel warm inside when they help those who really need it," Sai commented as he walked behind the pink haired medic. "I believe I am experiencing just such a sensation now."

"Wow, we just may get you to start acting normal someday soon," Sakura supplied as she turned and grinned at the former 'Ne' operative.

Listening to the banter of the group as they moved to grab a few large sacks of toys and food, Naruto moved to stand near Kakashi before clearing his throat with a small cough.

Giving his former pupil a one eyed glance the Copy-nin knew what was going on and replied, "You still need to stay here Naruto. You can send out some clones to help with deliveries, but you are far more valuable to this mission if you continue your efforts here."

"I could track these guys down in less than a heartbeat if you let me," protested the whiskered boy in calm and quiet tone.

"That may be," Kakashi noted as he and Yamato had both seen that Naruto had gained skills that far exceeded those of any other Konoha-nin. "However, doing so would be dangerous for you as you have been tapping into the Kyuubi's power far more often than you need to."

Turning to look the blond teenager square in the eyes the grey haired man continued, "All of us are worried that you are starting to grow dependent on the Fox instead of him being dependent on you. Every time you use his chakra it seems you lose a bit of yourself and replace it with a bit of him."

"I'm just growing up and realizing that I was too foolish to hold to such childish naivety for so long," coldly responded the jinchuuriki as he turned on his heel and walked back to his place of overseeing his clones.

* * *

Late afternoon had descended upon the Country of Fire as Christmas Eve began to fade. The Konoha teams had been helping the charity group throughout the day and had made even greater progress than had initially been projected. So far no contact had been made with the group who had been preying upon the couriers previously, however no one was thinking it would end so easily so Team 8 was busy in the field hoping to find new leads. 

Carrying a large bag full of presents Naruto was currently keeping pace with a group of his clones that he had snuck out with to make a delivery. Having left his small army with a clone general, the blond teenager fully intended to make this routine delivery and then track down those responsible for attempting to ruin the holiday season for the less fortunate people living in the Land of Fire. Though he was violating orders the whiskered boy had decided that if he found and destroyed the threat the chewing out Kakashi and Yamato would give him could easily be ignored as they finished the mission with ease and returned home.

Landing in front of a small one story house on what appeared to be a very poor farm the young Uzumaki moved towards the door to knock and make his delivery. The way the door seemed to explode as his hand touched it caught the boy with surprise as he was lifted back into the air before slamming hard into the ground.

"Seems like we got us one of them Konoha ninjas," came the sound of a voice filled with dark laughter as Naruto began to spy several figures through the smoke.

Standing in the flaming remains of the house were several heavily armed bandits with what appeared to be three missing-nins all in the dappled grey camouflage that had belonged to Otogakure.

"Konoha must be losing it's touch to send such a worthless fool like this out to fight us," the lead missing nin said from behind his cloth head mask as he moved to pick Naruto up by the collar. "I guess we'll just have to milk this one for information to find where the true threat is so we can deal with them later."

Tightening his grip upon Naruto's throat the man heard a small whisper escape from the young ninja's mouth.

"I didn't quite catch that Konoha trash," the man yelled as he hauled the blond up forcefully.

Letting a smile play across his face Naruto looked the man square in the eyes before letting out, "I said 'Boom'."

As the last word escaped the blond boy's mouth the missing-nin suddenly found himself engulfed in a large explosion. If the man had been able to see what was going on around him he would have found that all of his men had suddenly gotten a Naruto of their own attached to them before exploding in a brilliant ball of flame.

Crawling forward to try and escape the badly burned leader soon found himself staring at the blue sandaled feet of a Kyuubi empowered Uzumaki Naruto.

Kicking the surviving man hard in the gut to send him skidding away Naruto watched dispassionately as his remaining clones snapped necks or dragged kunai across the necks of those who had survived his little trap. Walking purposefully over to the leader, who was now being held up by a clone on either side, the whiskered blond began to charge up a low powered Rasengan.

"I sensed you pieces of scum well before I got here," Naruto explained as he neared the man, who was now pleading for his life as he stared at the bodies of his men being set on fire to remove every trace of them from existence. "I was even able to rescue the family that made their home here from the barn you had tied them up in without you ever noticing."

Bringing the low powered Rasengan closer to the man's stomach Naruto's grin began to grow darker as the ball of energy began to slowly wear away the layers of flesh of the belly before it.

"I've learned a great deal over the years, but one of my favorite things in regards to gathering information was learned from a fishy looking Missing-nin from Kirigakure," said the whiskered blond as he heard the ninja turned bandit scream in anguish. "Like his sword my low powered Rasengan here doesn't cut, it shaves."

Moving the ball of chakra into the screaming man's entrails Naruto began to demand information. Using the Kyuubi's chakra he tortured the man for what seemed like hours, in reality only a few minutes, by healing the wounds caused by the Rasengan before using the technique to shave away the brand new flesh.

"Please, I don't know anything more," begged the weeping missing-nin as Naruto began to push the Rasengan into him for the ninth time. "I told you everything, please stop!"

Letting the Rasengan die out as his clones disappeared, letting the bloody man fall into the dirt, Naruto remarked coldly, "It seems you have told me all I need and confirmed what I got out of the other group that tried to ambush me. I guess I should stop."

Turning away from the missing-nin the blond walked a few feet away before glancing over his shoulder at the crying man.

"Good-bye," icily intoned the whiskered teen as red chakra leapt from his form to incinerate the wide eyed man before his tortured mind could fully grasp what was happening.

Moving over towards the barn on the other side of the yard from where the house used to be and where the ashes of the bandits and missing-nin were beginning to blow away, Naruto saw a set of dirty faces peering out of the darkened building to stare at him. Pulling out a few large purses that he had had his clones liberate from the criminals Naruto met a clone carrying a large sack as the poor family came out from where they had been safely hiding.

"The money in these purses should be enough to rebuild your home and provide for you during that time," the blond teen remarked as he pressed the leather bundles into the hands of the middle aged farmer who was standing next to his wife while interposing themselves between Naruto and the young girl and boy that were behind them.

Having his clone open the sack and then disappear Naruto continued, "These are the presents and food that I was supposed to deliver to you."

Getting a nod from the slightly frightened farmer, the whiskered jinchuuriki began to turn away so he could begin tracking down the rest of the bandit group using the information provided him by his little torture session.

"Wait," the farmer's wife suddenly called out. "Thank you…thank you for everything."

Glancing over his shoulder to the woman, Naruto saw her trying to get her children to come out from behind her to give their thanks to him for not only saving them but also giving them the gifts, food, and money to rebuild. Catching the eye of the little girl, the blue eyed Uzumaki felt something inside of him let out a forlorn ache when she hid her face in fear of him. Before he could dwell on the feeling and the action of the young child, Naruto suddenly felt his mind bombarded with information.

Disappearing from the farm with lightning speed the blond teenager began to analyze what had just entered his mind. It seemed one of his clones had just been destroyed back at the warehouse by a bandit. Pouring on the speed Naruto realized that Team Gai had been lured away and his clone army had been left alone and was beginning to be defeated as more and more information began to flood his mind.

* * *

Haruno Sakura wasn't happy. Being that she and the rest of Team 7 had been the closest team when the alert had been raised she now found herself fighting a group of bandits and missing-nin that was far larger than initially estimated. Dancing around a spear thrust to break the jaw of it's owner the pink haired girl could only think that they were rather lucky to have arrived in time before the group had gotten too close to the warehouse. 

Watching as a Naruto clone suddenly disappeared in a suicide explosion to take out several bandits Sakura wondered where her friend and teammate was. When Team 7 had arrived the clone army had been getting pushed back by the onslaught of criminals. With what appeared to be no new clones she could only assume that Naruto must be preoccupied with far more pressing concerns than creating a few dozen more. With the clones still around at least she took comfort in knowing that her normally loudmouthed friend wasn't dead or severely wounded.

"Sakura, Duck!" shouted Ino as the Yamanaka suddenly came leaping in over a large missing-nin moving in from behind towards the pink haired medic, while planting a kunai in his skull, to land next to her long time friend. "Things are a bit worse then we originally predicted."

"Yeah," agreed Sakura as she launched several shuriken towards a group of bandits. "Have you seen Naruto at all?"

"Which one?" commented Ino as she used her family's technique to take control of two bandits and have them begin slaughtering their companions. "I saw Team 8 moving in from the east and from the radio chatter Team Gai is coming in from the north fast. Naruto's clonse are everywhere."

Slamming her fist into the earth to open a large fissure underneath a low level missing-nin, Sakura responded, "I haven't seen the real Naruto since we last left here to make deliveries, I've only been seeing clones since arriving back. I…."

As the pink haired medic tried to find out where her teammate could be she was suddenly interrupted by the flaring of a dark chakra that had been growing all too familiar. Finishing the last few criminals off in the area the two kunoichi began to run quickly towards the source of the crimson chakra that seemed to be dancing over on the other side of the warehouse.

* * *

Tsunade was carefully making her way through the streets of Konoha as parties and festive shinobi and villagers alike celebrated Christmas Day. It was just after noon and the Godaime was filled with holiday joy at having just seen Teams 7, 8, 10, and Gai in her office with a report of mission fully accomplished. It seemed that the threat posed by the bandit and missing-nin group had been eliminated, with the surviving members going to prison, and the charity group had been able to get all of its work done. Many a happy child and family owed a bit of thanks to the Konoha shinobi who had worked so hard, but the group had been content with the thanks they had received from the charity group before returning home. 

Despite everything having seemed to have turned out so well Tsunade was also filled with a sense of worry as she entered the graveyard of Konoha's fallen shinobi. Passing by several large graves she spotted the center of her worry standing before a large stone frog holding a stone tablet and pen.

Naruto had returned with the group to report the mission a success before quietly disappearing from her office. Sliding up to stand next to the younger blond Tsunade followed his stare down to the small flame that was flickering in the glass bulb before the grave.

"If you aren't careful you are going to turn into Kakashi with all of the visits you make to here and the memorial stone," Tsunade teased lightly as she gazed at Jiraiya's name emblazoned on the stone tablet held by the frog grave marker. "Jiraiya would want you to live your life to the fullest, just as he did."

Giving a small nod Naruto quietly spoke, "I wish things could be different…I wish…."

"So do all those who live with the loss of a loved one," the older blond said as she placed a comforting hand on the teen's shoulder. "I miss Nawaki and Dan everyday and I now miss Jiraiya just as much. I try to tell myself that I could have done something. Been just a bit faster, just a bit stronger, or have been with them to prevent things from happening, but such things are only excuses to try and ease my guilt over the loss. While I am sad about losing them I am far happier with the knowledge that I knew them and was able to have so many experiences and memories with them. In a way that is what lets me go on as I know I will one day be reunited with them and they will want to hear all about the new things I have experienced."

"On the mission…one of the supervisors from the charity thought he recognized me," Naruto said as the Godaime rose and eyebrow in curiosity. "I didn't tell him, but I met him a long time ago when he delivered one of the sacks of food and toys provided by the charity to me on Christmas when I had just been thrown out of the orphanage and placed into my apartment by Jiji. It was so long ago, but seeing that man reminded me of how alone I was back then."

Letting a few tears fall down onto the stone at his feet Naruto continued, "Jiji, Iruka-sensei, and Ero-sennin seemed to be the only people I've ever spent Christmas with and in the last three years I've lost all but one of them."

Pulling the blond boy into a hug Tsunade murmured soothing sounds as she rubbed small circles into the boy's back and tried to comfort him.

Pushing away slightly Naruto said, "When I heard that Jiraiya was dead I was so angry and I couldn't get rid of it. I didn't care about anything else, not about ramen or even being Hokage. The anger kept growing even after I buried him here, after his killer fled from me, after everything I was still angry, even on the mission. I tortured and killed two groups of bandits and missing-nins yet I didn't care as watching them allowed me to forget my anger. I left the warehouse against orders to do it and it almost cost us not only the mission, but all those people the good things the charity provides."

Feeling Tsunade stiffen in shock at his revelation the whiskered blond continued, "After I got finished with the second group a farmer's wife tried to thank me for saving them and bringing them the delivery from the charity. However, when I looked back at her I could see that her children were scared to death of me. The looks on their faces reminded me of the time I almost killed Ero-sennin in training when I accessed the fourth tail."

Moving over to rest his hands on the stone frog Naruto further supplied, "When I got back to find the bandits attacking the warehouse I flipped out and began to let Kyuubi take over. I let the second tail out and then found the leader. I was beating on him without remorse or pity as the third tail began to form, but suddenly everything seemed to stop…I stopped. I couldn't kill him…I had killed others of his crew but couldn't bring myself to kill him. Kakashi-sensei found me first, but I had already calmed down by then. I don't know what it was, but as I stood there I just couldn't feel angry anymore."

Turning to look at Tsunade the orange wearing boy had tears dripping down his face as he said, "After we rounded up the rest of the bandits and missing-nin and then disposed of the dead we went back to work completing the mission. As I delivered the presents and saw the happiness on people's faces I no longer cared about being angry anymore, I cared about helping them and thought about what I could do to help everyone when I become Hokage. Does this mean I'm forgetting him? Does it mean I have forgotten him?"

Wrapping Naruto into another comforting hug Tsunade softly spoke, "You aren't forgetting him and you haven't forgotten him. You remembered what he taught you about being a shinobi, about being a person, and that is what he wanted the most for you. He wanted so much for you to become Hokage, but at the same time he wanted you to still be the good person that you were when you originally met him and me back then. You've remembered that."

Pushing Naruto out to look him in the eyes Tsunade said, "Always remember those things and on the day you take up the title of Hokage you will have made him and me prouder than anyone else has ever been."

Giving a sharp nod and then his normal, goofy grin Naruto remarked, "Thanks Baachan, I needed that."

"Anytime brat," the last of the Sannin said quietly before perking up. "Now I think there is a Christmas party waiting for you and me back at the Hokage Tower. We shouldn't let it be said the Hokage and the future Hokage don't know how to entertain guests."

Letting out a whoop the whiskered teen moved quickly towards the gateway to the graveyard as Tsunade smiled. Pausing before following the boy she knew in her heart would be her successor Tsunade turned back to the large stone frog.

"I know you had something to do with all of this you old pervert," the blond medic spoke suddenly. "Hopefully I won't see you for some time, but when I do I plan on beating you senseless for what you've put me and that boy through."

Turning back to catch up to the excited blond who was waiting for her outside of the graveyard Tsunade shot a glance over her shoulder before saying, "After that I think I'll give you that big kiss you've always wanted in thanks."

Leaving behind the grave marker to go with Naruto to the Hokage Tower and the large party waiting for them neither Tsunade nor her whiskered protégé heard what appeared to be a rolling laugh as a gust of wind circled about the stone frog.

* * *

**AN: **_I had originally planned this as just a Christmas one shot, but with the demise of one of my favorite Naruto characters it turned into something a bit different. Jiraiya was a great character with his antics, wisdom, and general nature, he is a character type that only appears in some of the best series. All hail the Frog Hermit!_

_To all of the readers I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year._

_**Tyrchon**_  
**_-,- _**


End file.
